


Losing You

by TooCreative4Life



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice (Comics)
Genre: AU, Accidents, Aftermath, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Broken Heart, Broken Promises, Car Accidents, Character Death, Don't Have to Know Canon, Established Relationship, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Late at Night, Look At Your Life Look At Your Choices, Loss, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Not Happy, One Shot, One Year Later, Please Don't Hate Me, Relationship(s), Romeo and Juliet-esque, Sad, Some Humor, Sorry Not Sorry, Storms, Tearjerker, Tears, Wally Whump, Wally's Dead, With A Twist, life sucks, not in the way you think, not quite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-12
Updated: 2016-02-12
Packaged: 2018-05-19 21:28:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5981506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooCreative4Life/pseuds/TooCreative4Life
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zatanna and Wally work for rival companies, <i>Team Titan</i> and <i>Jatos Limited Associates Inc.</i> respectively. They both knew sooner or later they would have to choose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Losing You

Losing You

Zatanna stood at the window, one hand cupping her elbow and a sheet of paper while she chewed her nails. Tears threatened to spill over the edge of her eyes. She kept her blurry gaze on the night-lit city. Grey clouds were gathering over the horizon and coming towards the city. The promise of rain followed the clouds, just like it always did, and with that rain would always follow thunder and, her least favorite thing in the world, lightning.

A shuddering breath seeped from between frozen shoulders as Zatanna bowed her head, eyes closed. Tears fell from their perch and onto the wooden floor as she looked from the city skyline to the horribly crumpled paper in her hand. Its edges were ripped in places from age, each small tear a story of anger and frustration all its own.

“It’s been a year, Walls. A whole damn year, and I’m still standing here alone, you bastard.” Her hand tightened around the paper, lips pressing together as it crinkled.

 

 

_Nothing was different inside the small apartment; the rain pounded on the window as Zatanna stood alone beside her worn, two-person couch. She dropped the hand from her mouth running it over the weighty envelope settled heavily in her lap. With one hand gripping her forearm, she reread the return address, more from memory as her vision blurred again._

_Jatos Limited Association Inc._

_10220 Watch Tower Ave._

_Washington, D.C. 20015_

_Zatanna almost crumpled the paper in her fist, spinning away from the couch, walking quickly around the living room. Her shoulders began to shake and shudder. Quiet sobs freed themselves from her throat, drowning out the roaring rain and thunder. She knew what the elegant lettering on the front and heftiness of the envelope’s contents meant._

_Her body turned, back pressing against the wall, before she slid down and sat on the hard ground, with an echoing thud like a bag of rocks had clattered in her place. Zatanna’s knees pulled tightly to her chest, her arms wrapping around them. Her closed fist tightened even more as she raised her eyes from dark to glare at her hand as though she could make the envelope disappear._

_Anger festered in her glare as the sky’s torrent worsened, the cracks and flashes splitting the dingy clouds, illuminating the city yet making it seem all the darker._

 

“You had to go and pick the worst city ever to live in, didn’t you?” Zatanna grumbled, not moving from her seat on the floor. “I guess part of it is my fault for letting you, right?” She shrugged, a sigh pushing sluggishly from her.

Wallace West had been one of the most complicated parts of her life, and the biggest idiot of a genius she had ever met. Between the degrees hanging in frames on their walls, the crazy redemption attempt stories after ‘botched’ dates, and the sheer child-like glee the twenty-seven yea-old got from playing with _My First Chemistry Set_ , Zatanna had enough evidence to support her claim.

Her lips quirked upwards at the corners, hints of a smile playing on her face as she shook her head, and the apartment ceiling was replaced with a clear blue night sky as her memories surfaced.

_“Wally, where are we going? I can’t see a thing!” She laughed, hand tight around the one on her shoulder, guiding her through the street._

_They were at least five blocks away from where the car was parked, and even then she had no idea where they were, what with the blindfold Wally had begged her to put on before he started driving._

_His light chuckle was his first answer, “You’ll see, Zee. You’ll like it, I promise.”_

_“You better be sure about that, Walls, otherwise I can think of someone who is sleeping on the couch for a while.”_

_“Relax, will you? You’re gonna love tonight. I promise, okay?” He stepped around her, his hands dropping to hold her own._

_A few seconds flitted by, Zatanna biting at her lower lip and pondering the nervous butterflies in her stomach as Wally’s thumbs ran over her knuckles in gentle circles. She pulled one hand away, bringing it up a bit slowly tried to find the top of his head. It took her a moment, and she was sure that she had almost poked his eyes out, but she felt his unruly red hair and slid her fingers through it._

_“So long as it doesn’t involve glitter,” Zatanna said, smiling at him._

_She could hear the wide grin on his freckled face as he chuckled deeply, “I’d bet my side of the bed for a year that you’ll never forget it.”_

 

Zatanna shook her head again, leaning forward, resting her forehead on her knees. “Guess you got the never forget it part right,” she chuffed.

Their life had been perfect. She loved her job at Team Titan and Wally was amazing at his job with JLA; they had a small apartment with eyes on a house; hints of a white gown and piano march had started to fall from the both of them… A growl of frustration tore from her throat as Zatanna snapped her head up, glowering at the page in her hand. She threw it as far across the room as she could. The words so neatly printed on the page taunted her, reminding her what she had lost a year ago when she had read them the first time. 

 

 

> _March 24 th 2018_
> 
> _Dear Wallace Rudolph West,_
> 
>  
> 
> _JLA Incorporated has considered your talents and growth as an intern from your beginning with the team in 2010 to your present day achievements as a probationary clerk. Amongst your list of contributions to JLA Incorporated are: improvements and significant growth of our online presence, asserting yourself as a potential member of the League by collaborating with them to sign a new contract with Grayson Technologies for the company._
> 
> _Please keep in mind that JLA Inc. and Team Titan are separate for reasons of great importance, and as such, there are no ties between them. If you have any links with members of Team Titan, regardless of their nature, they will need to cease prior to your acceptance of this invitation or else it becomes invalid._
> 
> _We understand that this clause is harsh and that you may feel too attached to Team Titan to accept these rules, thus we would comprehend your choice to decline the invitation. But know that the opportunity to join JLA Inc.’s higher ranks will not present itself again until the next complete meeting, and only then provided you draw the League's attention again. Your declination of this invitation will be taken into account in future presentations of promotions._
> 
> _Thank you for your service to the company._
> 
> _Sincerely,_
> 
> _Clark Kent & Bruce Wayne  
>  _ _CEOs of Jatos Limited Association Incorporated_

 

_Her shoulders began to shake and shudder. Quiet sobs began to free themselves from her throat._

_She understood the words, knew what each one was and that they formed a whole. She understood that the letter told her that Wally had been invited to join the JLA’s most prominent team, and play with the big boys like he’d always dreamed of._

_If he chose to step up and join the League, Wally would have to leave everyone he knew at Titan behind, including her._

_Zatanna’s world spluttered to a halt, ready to collapse around her, bury her alive. She had known what Wally was going to choose; it had been obvious from the first time she ever talked to the eccentric ginger. A sharp laugh punched from her chest as Zatanna’s head tilted back, lids sliding open as she looked up at the ceiling, eyes seeing memories. Prickling pressure built to near-painful levels behind her blues eyes, glinting with new unshed tears._

_Her chest constricted, shoulders rolling forward as though she had been struck. Pain throbbed to life in the center of her chest, spreading like a poisonous blooming flower. That’s all love was. Some pretty thing to look at that enticed you enough to come get a taste before it slowly killed you. Magical at the start, now, it was more painful than she ever thought anything could be._

_Wally had shown her that there was more in life than just research and work. He had pulled her back to the world, made her enjoy the roses and have fun again._

_Her pale hands turned paler as they reached for her inky black mess of hair. Her knuckles faded to a snowy white. Her lips parted in a soundless scream as conflict raged in her brain. Keep quiet and destroy the letter, forcing Wally to stay behind and lying to him every day, every step of their relationship? Let him leave and have a hand in breaking her own heart, or keep herself and one of the sweetest, silliest guys she had ever met happy? Tears were now starting to trace their old paths along Zatanna's cheek._

_In one fluid movement, though filled with anger, she stood up. Her eyes remained shut as she lashed out at the air, pretending something was there. This was not something she could ever go back and fix. Whatever choice she made, their lives would change irreversibly._

_Her furious fit carried the raven-haired girl throughout her flat, making her lash out at anything and almost everything. Her voice rose as she shouted with anger at everything while her arms and feet lunged at it, though hardly anything ever fell or broke. Tears trailed behind the girl, leaving splashes on the floor, as well as down her front. The make-up she had so carefully applied that morning was smeared and dribbling down her cheeks._

_Her head hurt from the battling thoughts. They were restless, fighting a bloody battle and using her emotions and loyalty as a battlefield. Her memories were handing out free ammunition. She lifted her head away from the softness and shook it hard, trying to shake the raging torrent quiet. A rattling buzz made her freeze. Her eyes snapped down to her phone. The overly familiar, and now painful, ringtone was blasting from it._ _"Bill Gates, Captain of the chess team; Jack Black, the clown; Brad Pitt, the Quarterback. I've seen it all before. I want my money back!"_ _Automatically, her hand reached out and snatched the phone, cutting_ We Didn’t Start the Fire _off. Her fingers slid over the smooth screen in a practiced motion, and before she could tell her hands No, the phone was by her ear._

_"Hey there, Zee. I just got your message, told me to call you right back. So, Hey, your favorite Wall-man here."_

_She could not make her voice work for a few seconds, her eyes welling up with fat tears as her heart raced. The bloody battle turned to a deadly race. Which side could get to her mouth faster? Which could be said first? As suddenly as her phone had gone off, her lips parted and words tumbled from them._

_"Hey Wally," her head tipped forward, bowing to the emotions and letting her relax at the sound of his voice._

_Zatanna did not notice the silence where his response should have been until his voice flooded the phone, "You okay, Zee? You don't sound good. You need me to grab you something from the store? I'll run it over before you can say ‘Ben and Jerry’s'. What'd you need? I'm up fo-"_

_"Walls, I'm fine," a sniffle slipped out before she could catch it._

_"You don't sound fine." Sometimes Zatanna hated how well he knew her._

_Her mind raced with things to tell him, anything but the fact that he had finally received a letter inviting him to join JLA’s League group. The weight in her chest only grew, pitting her stomach as she fought down the howling sounds she yearned to make._

_The girl’s lips parted to let the wrecking-ball fly, but her throat caught around the words. Her breath stopped. A choking sound fled her mouth. She lurched forward almost gagging. The phone dropped from her hands and the call on the line was thrown from her mind as she launched to her feet and was tearing to the bathroom._

_"Zee? You okay? Zee? Zatanna!"_

 

Zatanna pushed aside the memory, swallowing the wails of pain that were building in her throat. Each thought of Wally stung like a thousand hornets, the wounds in her heart still raw and tender. People told her that getting out, meeting new people would help them heal, make the brief flashes of red hair around the apartment and the echoes of his laugh go away.

They were all she was ever going to have of Wally anymore, no matter how badly she wanted to turn around and cross back over the bridge. It had cracked and crumbled behind her, leaving less than if fire had burned it away. How Zatanna wished that she were haunted by harsh words. That would at least be a bearable weight on her shoulders compared to the guilt incessantly churning in her gut.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured into her knees, cringing as her chest clenched once more. Her head snapped up, face contorted as her anger snapped. “I’m sorry, okay you idiot?! You hear me? I am sorry!” She shook her head, trying to put words together as her brain fried in the emotional storm. “I-I didn’t mean to make you panic like that. It just… it was hard finding that damn letter without hearing anything from you.”

Zatanna’s voice was weak by the end, not wanting to recall the rest of the night. She couldn’t stop the flashes of red and blue lights outside their apartment from seeping into her mind; the deafening echoes of her shattered wail as the officer outside her door stood stoically still; the numbness that settled in after the fire of grief had burnt through all of Zatanna’s strength, evaporating her tears as she stepped into the hospital’s morgue.

“I just couldn’t stand the thought of losing you,” she all but whispered as she hugged her knees tight to her chest, pretending to ignore the lightning cracking outside.

 

 

 


End file.
